Nighttime Chase Through the Garden
by Epic Insanity
Summary: Asgard is quiet and calm as Jane takes a leisurely stroll through the garden. But soon it becomes a place of nightmares as an eerie voice whispers her name amongst the flowers and a dark figure emerges from the shadows to pursue her.


**I am not one for writing sweet stories. I'm so much better at the angst and darker side of things. But I've had this desire to write a sickeningly sweet bit eating at me for a few days so I might as well try.**

**Good luck, self. (I don't think Black Sabbath is condusive to romantic writing, but...)**

**Couldn't think of a better title...**

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Nighttime Chase Through the Garden

Purple and blue petals tickled Jane's fingertips as she ran her hand across the rows of heather flowers. The corners of her mouth turned up at the sensation and she bent down to admire them more closely. Her hair framed her face loosely, drifting in the subtle changes of the wind.

She continued along the path. Her bare feet peeked out from beneath the skirt of her flowing white dress as she stepped on the brick walkway. The sky was a mix of dark orange and red as the warm colors of day melted into the coolness of night. In the distance, she could hear a crowd laughing and cheering-probably at some amazing feat Thor had just performed in the arena. But the sound was so faint that it felt nothing more than a memory trailing behind.

Nearby, the smell of aloe caught in her throat and Jane decided to follow the scent. It led her to a side trail marked as such by only the towering hedges on either side of her. The brick faded to grass and her feet delighted in the soft sensation the green brought. Her fingers graced the manicured leaves of the hedges.

Eventually Jane's wanderings drifted to a close as she found a small field of aloe by which a few patches of petunias grew. She wondered at the strange combination but knew in Asgard that there were much odder occurrences. For a few moments, she closed her eyes and took in the smells. She fancied she heard the far off crowd clapping, signaling an end to the day's festivities. But of course that could have been the wind blowing down the narrow path through the hedges.

To the left, Jae saw the hedges continue and was tempted to resume her venture but as the dark orange faded to a soft dark blue, she knew that her presence would soon be missed. So, reluctantly leaving the secluded spot, Jane headed back to the palace where Thor was likely to spend at least a half hour recounting how his opponents had been defeated. Loki would probably roll his eyes more than once and Odin was likely to unleash a thick bout of laughter at the highest point of the tale when the enemy fell. Frigg would take Jane to the side and they would smile together at the sight of her sons.

Jane felt a grin start at the imagined scenario, but was soon interrupted from her thoughts when she heard a soft voice call her name.

She stopped walking. It seemed to have come from behind her.

"Jane..." the voice said again, light on the wind.

"Yes?" she answered calmly. She had not seen or heard anyone in the garden with her, but the place was rather large and she could have missed them.

"Come here, Jane," it called again. The voice was familiar.

"Loki?" she asked, surprised at how her voice shook a little. The sky was very dark now and there were no lamps in the garden. The starlight from the firmament provided only enough illumination to keep an individual on the path. "Is that you, Loki?"

"Jane. Come back here, Jane. Let me tell you a secret."

Jane shivered at the eerie tone of the voice. Loki or not, she felt very frightened by it. Behind her, the path was eaten up with shadows and the once beautiful hedges now seemed menacing. Jane turned back and began to walk at a much quicker pace towards the palace. It would be warm there. Warm and bright and filled with easy laughter.

The wind picked up and lifted her flowing skirt from behind. With it, the voice laughed: high pitched and scary.

Jane increased her speed and was now jogging through the garden, hoping that she was taking the correct turns. The gold lights from the palace were still not visible.

"Jane, you can't hide from me."

She suddenly stopped, turning around and facing the way she had just come. It was as dark as ever. "Loki, I swear if that is you playing a trick on me, you are sleeping in the stables tonight."

The only reply was a chuckle that sent chills down her spin. The shadows seemed to shift and she narrowed her eyes, hoping to see the God of Mischief, but instead seeing a menacing black figure step from them.

Taking no other liberties to view the person (or thing) following her, Jane sprinted away with pure terror gripping her heart. The smell of flowers was the only sign as to where she was going. The overpowering scent of roses-probably the deep crimson ones she had so admired earlier-hyacinth, and finally piercing monkshood told her she was going in the correct direction. She didn't dare look over her shoulder.

Jane ran, wishing she was wearing a pair of sturdy jeans and boots instead of the chiffon dress and only the soles of her feet. The laughter danced around her head, sometimes to her left, sometimes inches away from her ear, others right on her heel. Her heartbeat pounded painfully in her head.

All of a sudden, she collided with a solid, warm body and careened away as quickly as she could with a scream. It was then that she felt the tears on her cheeks.

"Jane!"

She was in hysterics, tearing back the way she had come, not caring which direction it was, only that it was away from whatever what chasing her.

"Jane, stop!"

The reasonable side to Jane won out (it usually did) and she hesitated. The voice had suddenly changed tones. From eerie to frightened itself. Reasonable Jane recognized that voice without a doubt. Reasonable Jane could sense the hesitancy in breath, the slight hitch as the voice caught in the throat when wounded.

"Loki?" she asked softly, still prepared to run if it were another trick.

The dark figure she had seen before manifested again and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. But as it got closer, she saw that the hands were outreached as if in apology and the starlight glittered in green eyes and from those lips were whispered words of affection.

"Jane, dearest, it's all right. It's me." Loki-for it was he-emerged from the shadows and came closer to her at a rate that gave her heart time to slow. He saw the tears on her face and looked to his black boots in shame.

Jane was instantly relieved to see him. Knowing that Loki was afraid to touch her lest he frighten her again, she threw her arms around him. The warmth of his controlled breath released onto her neck as he buried his face there.

"I didn't mean to frighten you, dear one. I meant it only as a joke." Loki pulled away and wiped the tears from Jane's cheeks as gently as possible before planting a kiss to each side of her face. Then Jane put her forehead to his chest and snuggled in like a cat would do to a pillow.

"That was remarkably cruel," Jane said, lightening her tone so that Loki would not be bothered further. The fingers of her right hand linked with his while her left played with the long hair at the base of his neck.

Loki chuckled, sounding nothing like the nightmare earlier. "I could hardly resist, love. You looked so tempting amongst the flowers."

"So tempting that you nearly scared me to death!"

He merely smiled into her hair.

Jane pulled back. "I meant what I said. About sleeping in the stable."

The smile vanished from his face. "But Jane-"

"Oh no, don't you 'But Jane,' me. I warned you, mister God of Mischief." She swatted away his hand and then took off toward the palace with her chin held high.

It took her a moment before she heard Loki's laughter again. "What?" she asked.

"The palace is in the other direction." He was smirking at her. She could feel it through the back of her head.

"Make that stable duty for the rest of the week."

Jane turned around and strutted past Loki, who was frowning as he tried to imagine how to possibly get out of this situation. She grabbed his hand as she went by, tugging him behind.

"Unless, that is, you tell me what secret you were promising about five minutes ago."

Loki pulled on Jane's hand so that she was facing him and kissed her soundly, tossing away all thoughts of secrets and nighttime chases and flowers.

And hopefully stables.

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**Toward the end, I was starting to edge into the angst zone but I steered away. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. What do you think? Did I do okay in my first attempt at creating a sweet moment? I kind of wrote it in a rush and didn't proofread so there may be grammar errors. Meh.**


End file.
